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Game and Fish to host tortoise adoption fair
Having trouble with Fido running away? Is it hard to find the time to care for a dog or cat when you are tied up with work and family all day? If so, consider adopting a desert tortoise through the Arizona Game and Fish Department's tortoise adoption fair on Saturday, Oct. 6.
Desert tortoises offer a unique alternative to more traditional family pets, but can teach many of the same life lessons to children, including responsibility, compassion and commitment. Tortoises also make a great teaching tool for educators that have an outdoor habitat at their school.
?People are pleasantly surprised at how fun a desert tortoise can be for the family, and how easy they are to care for,? says Sandy Cate, coordinator of the Game and Fish Department's Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. ?Tortoises make a good tool, too, for teaching children about wildlife, the environment and how to care for an animal.?
The adoption fair will be held at Game and Fish?s Phoenix headquarters located at 2222 W. Greenway Road from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tortoise experts will be on hand to answer questions about care, and examples of proper outdoor enclosures will be displayed. Forty animals will be available for adoption on a first-come, first-serve basis. They are microchipped and pass a health check before being available for adoption. State law prohibits taking these creatures from the wild.
Those interested in sharing their yard with a tortoise must bring a completed application form and photos of their enclosure to the fair in order to take a tortoise home. Enclosure specifications and application forms can be downloaded prior to the event at www.azgfd.gov/tortoise. Prospective adopters can also start the application process at the fair if their application requirements are not yet complete.
Desert tortoises can live as long as 50 to 100 years. They grow to be about 15 pounds and hibernate in the winter months. They eat plant material, including grasses, wildflowers and native cactus fruits. Once captive, desert tortoises cannot be released back into the wild. Captive animals can pass a dangerous upper respiratory disease to wild tortoise populations.
Game and Fish discourages tortoise custodians from allowing their animals to breed. Each year, there are more tortoises than there are homes.
Having trouble with Fido running away? Is it hard to find the time to care for a dog or cat when you are tied up with work and family all day? If so, consider adopting a desert tortoise through the Arizona Game and Fish Department's tortoise adoption fair on Saturday, Oct. 6.
Desert tortoises offer a unique alternative to more traditional family pets, but can teach many of the same life lessons to children, including responsibility, compassion and commitment. Tortoises also make a great teaching tool for educators that have an outdoor habitat at their school.
?People are pleasantly surprised at how fun a desert tortoise can be for the family, and how easy they are to care for,? says Sandy Cate, coordinator of the Game and Fish Department's Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. ?Tortoises make a good tool, too, for teaching children about wildlife, the environment and how to care for an animal.?
The adoption fair will be held at Game and Fish?s Phoenix headquarters located at 2222 W. Greenway Road from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tortoise experts will be on hand to answer questions about care, and examples of proper outdoor enclosures will be displayed. Forty animals will be available for adoption on a first-come, first-serve basis. They are microchipped and pass a health check before being available for adoption. State law prohibits taking these creatures from the wild.
Those interested in sharing their yard with a tortoise must bring a completed application form and photos of their enclosure to the fair in order to take a tortoise home. Enclosure specifications and application forms can be downloaded prior to the event at www.azgfd.gov/tortoise. Prospective adopters can also start the application process at the fair if their application requirements are not yet complete.
Desert tortoises can live as long as 50 to 100 years. They grow to be about 15 pounds and hibernate in the winter months. They eat plant material, including grasses, wildflowers and native cactus fruits. Once captive, desert tortoises cannot be released back into the wild. Captive animals can pass a dangerous upper respiratory disease to wild tortoise populations.
Game and Fish discourages tortoise custodians from allowing their animals to breed. Each year, there are more tortoises than there are homes.
